Tánaiste and Minister for Justics Michael McDowell has welcomed the Independent Monitoring Commission's reiteration that the IRA has abandoned violence but has called on loyalist leaders to 'show their commitment to peace' following the publication today of the Commission's 15th report into paramilitary activity.
The report confirms that the IRA has had no involvement in shootings and assaults, illegal intelligence-gathering or sectarian activity, and continues as an organisation not to be involved in criminal activity.
However, senior Ulster Defence Association members profited from crime just weeks before the British government pledged £1.2 million to the loyalist group's plan to wean its communities off paramilitarism, according to the report.
While the latest report welcomed signals of good intent from the UDA and the Ulster Volunteer Force, the commission said they were not moving fast enough and needed more coherent strategies.
Speaking after the publication of the report, Mr McDowell said "The time has come now for the leaders of these organisations to show their commitment to peace and take real steps by decommissioning their weapons and abandoning criminality."
According to the report, UDA members took part in extortion, drug dealing and loan sharking, although it noted there were signs that such activity was beginning to drop off in some areas.
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain warned loyalist groups they risked getting "left behind" in the province's future if they did not abandon their criminal activities.
He warned they faced "further isolation" if they did not join decommissioning and engage in the peace process.
While it welcomed the group's Conflict Transformation Initiative, to which the British government pledged £1.2 million last month, and its efforts to prevent racial attacks and extortion, the IMC said this did not amount to an effective strategy against criminality.
The commission said: "There have continued to be welcome signs that the leadership wants to move in a positive direction but so far the impact of these aspirations has been limited and the pace has been slow.
The UVF, the commission said, was not involved in terrorist activity, was involved in no shootings during the period under review, and had tried to address the problem of racial crime carried out by members.
Assaults were carried out during the three months but they appeared to be linked to internal discipline and anti-social behaviour.
While the UVF did not carry out robberies or attempt to acquire weapons, the commission noted: "Individual members were involved in serious crime, mainly for personal gain, including extortion and counterfeiting.
"There has, however, been further evidence of a reduction in the amount of drug dealing by members, in terms of both its scale and geographical spread."
The UVF leadership, the report observed, was keen to reduce the size of the organisation and to restructure it.
And while the group ordered its members to refrain from criminality, the IMC believed its leadership wanted to retain some residual paramilitary capacity. The commission said: "As Northern Ireland moves into a new stage of political development, the time has, in our view, clearly come for the leadership of the UVF to show courage and imagination and grasp the nettle.
"If it does not do so soon, including on the question of decommissioning weapons, then talk of these intentions will become less and less credible. As with the UDA, early substantial moves are now essential."
The IMC warned that hardline dissident republican groups such as the Real IRA, Continuity IRA and Oglaigh na hEireann continue to pose a threat. The Irish National Liberation Army also posed a terrorist threat and increased its criminal activities, according to the report.